All posts tagged ‘Pierre de Fermat’

Today we celebrate the birthday of French mathematician Pierre de Fermat (1601-1665). His achievements were many. His work with tangents was the basis of differential calculus. His work with Pascal became the foundation of probability theory. And above all, his most significant contributions were in the field of number theory. But what I love about this mathematician is his contribution to the world of puzzlers: He claimed to have multiple proofs that he never bothered to share, leaving the rest of us in the dark for centuries.